How to Uninstall a Program Using Registry Editor in Windows 10

 

Few people know, there are different ways to uninstall programs in Windows 10/8/7. You can uninstall the program using the Control Panel and navigate to Programs and Features, or you can use the program's uninstaller from the application itself which you can find in the Programs folder if needed, or you can use a third-party uninstaller application. These three methods are methods commonly used by most Windows users. But if the program entry is missing in Control Panel or the application Uninstaller is not available, or these three methods don't work for some reason, you can also use the Windows Registry to get rid of the application from your PC.

Uninstall Programs Using Registry

Because this method deals with editing the registry, before you go any further, it's a good idea to back up the registry or create a system restore point in case you make a mistake in editing the registry. After doing so, you can follow the steps below to uninstall your program.

• To uninstall a program via the Windows registry, press the Win key + R, then type regedit and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open the Registry Editor with Run as adminstrator.

• After the registry editor opens, browse to the following path below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

• You will see a lot of keys under the Uninstall key. It represents the programs installed on your PC. They may have long numbers or names. If you want to uninstall a third-party application, then scroll down because usually the name of the application will be displayed.
• If it just displays a long number without the name of the app (usually a default app or one installed from the Store), then click on each key until you can find the program you want to uninstall.
• After finding the program, in the right pane look for the string value named UninstallString and double click on it.
• In the Edit String window that opens, copy the value data. It will look like below.

C:\Program Files\CCleaner\Uninstall.exe

or

MsiExec.exe /X{CF2BEA3C-26EA-32F8-AA9B-331F7E34BA97}

• Next, open a command prompt with admin rights. Press Win + R key, then type cmd and press Ctrl + Shift + Enter.
• In the command prompt window, paste the value data you copied earlier and press Enter.

• If you see the value data like C:\Program Files\Application_Name\Uninstall.exe, then you can also press Win + R key, then paste the value data and press Enter

After pressing Enter, the program will begin to be uninstalled from your Windows PC.

Note: If you are using Windows with 64-bit architecture but the application you installed is 32 bit, then your registry path may be redirected to the following path.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Once you reach the Uninstall key, you can then follow the same steps to uninstall the program as described above.

Here's a tutorial this time, hopefully it can help you in uninstalling programs from your Windows PC. Don't forget to leave your comments below to share your experience in following this tutorial. Thank you.